Mock Newbery Sleepers: Can a book with just one nomination rise to the top?

We’re just a week away from our last round of nominations.  Through the first two rounds 162 nominations have been made, spread out among 45 books. But they haven’t been spread out equally, of course. About 60% of the nominations have gone to the top 11 books on the list. At the other end, 19 titles have received just one nomination so far. That’s 42% of the titles. We don’t want to ignore those single-nomination books, though. There could be many reasons why they don’t place higher on our list, and most of those don’t eliminate them from possible Newbery contention. Those reasons could include:

Recent Publications: Books that haven’t been out long enough for many to read
Examples from this year with just one nomination include THE BLETCHLEY RIDDLE and THE HOTEL BALZAAR, both October releases, and A STRANGE THING HAPPENED IN CHERRY HALL and THE WITCHING WIND from September.

Unique Presentations: Some books just don’t fit what we usually expect to see in a Newbery title
ALL ABOUT U.S. comes to mind in this case. A different kind of nonfiction book, based on interviews with kids and families. I almost nominated this one and still might. We’ve also talked about BLACK GIRL YOU ARE ATLAS, where the poetry collection form and the older reader appeal might cause some to hold off nominating.

Crowded Field: When there a multiple books that share similar themes or formats, it can be hard for more than a couple to stand out.
We’ve talked about the many many many “struggling parent” books. They are all different, but reading a bunch can kind of numb you a little as a reader. I think SHARK TEETH was the very first one I read, and I still think it could be as strong as any in that group, though it does have just the one nomination. Novels in verse is another crowded category this year, including two excellent one-nomination examples: BLACK STAR and DEER RUN HOME…both of those also qualify for the “Recent Publication” list.

Not a True Contender: A book can resonate with a small number of readers, but not have enough broad appeal for multiple nominations.
Sometimes a book gets just one nomination because it really isn’t that great, but somehow was just the right book for a single Heavy Medal reader. That happens in the real Newbery Committee too. Even so, on the real Committee, it only takes one nomination to get a book onto the final discussion list. And once those 15 people get to talking, you never know what’s going to happen. Details are confidential, but if I remember right, during my two years I nominated at least two or three books (out of fourteen) that received no other nominations. Did any of them win?…I’ll keep that secret.

As for Heavy Medal, I did have to go back a few years to find a book that just received one nomination on our final list, then won Newbery recognition: ALL THIRTEEN was a 2021 Honor Book. Our excuse for the single nomination? It was in that Recent Publication category (October) and kind of long. But at least one highly perceptive person nominated it (no need to identify that person, but his first name rhymes with “even”).

Here’s our list of this year’s single-nomination books to date. Do any of them stand a chance at winning? Or at least earning their way onto our Heavy Medal Book List (which will be 15 or so titles)

Filed under: Book Discussion